1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for finishing the tops of concrete posts, piers and columns.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Concrete posts, piers and columns are routinely used to support structures. In particular, concrete posts, piers and columns are used to support decks, light poles, horizontal beams and similar load bearing structures. Further, concrete posts, piers and columns are used to support decorative structures, signs, and warning structures, such as barriers and the like.
When concrete posts, piers and columns are constructed as footings to support a deck for example, a tubular form, such as a prefabricated paper form is often used. The paper form is usually sturdy tube of wound paper or boxboard. The tubular form is usually of circular cross section, but it could also be of square, triangular or other cross-section. Such tubular forms come in standard lengths which are cut at the job site to form a post, pier or column of the desired length. Typically, the tubular form has an uneven top edge along the cut edge.
To construct a concrete post, pier or column, a hole is usually dug into the ground surface. The hole is sized to have a diameter greater than the diameter of the tubular form. The tubular form is then placed in the hole and the annular space between the tubular form and the earth is backfilled with rock, rubble, dirt or other material to stabilize the tubular form and to hold it in an upright, substantially vertical position. When the tubular form is stabilized, the interior of the tubular form is filled with concrete.
The concrete is allowed to set and after an appropriate time the tubular form is removed from the exposed upper end of the concrete post, pier or column. When the tubular form is removed from the exposed end of the concrete post, pier or column it commonly removes chips of concrete along the top rim, forming a rough and uneven top on the concrete post, pier or column. Further, as the top of the concrete post, pier or column may have been formed in a tubular form with an irregular cut end, and the tubular form may have been imperfectly installed in the ground, the upper surface of the top of the concrete post, pier or column will often be uneven and off the horizontal plane.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 386,979, 780,321, 945,948, 1,299,739, 2,390,625, 3,377,808, 3,956,437, 3,990,672, 4,790,509, 5,492,658, 5,718,851, 5,961,253 and 6,254,314 are incorporated by reference herein.